Ron Huberman began his career in 1995 as a Chicago police officer, but he moved up quickly to police administration. After an educational leave of absence to attend the University of Chicago, he was named assistant deputy superintendent in 2000.

As the department's director of information services, Huberman worked with the Illinois State Police to establish a shared criminal database for hundreds of law enforcement agencies and created the framework for the Chicago Police Department's blue light camera program called Police Operation Disruption. In 2004, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley named Huberman head of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, where he launched the first network that integrated surveillance camera capability with police and emergency response operations. In 2005, Daley tapped Huberman for chief of staff; with federal guidance, he stamped out patronage hiring in city ranks.

When the mayor appointed Huberman head of the financially troubled Chicago Transit Authority in 2007, he convinced politicians to agree on funding changes that kept trains and buses running. In January 2009, Daley named Huberman CEO of Chicago Public Schools, a nearly $5 billion bureaucracy that employs more than 40,000 adults and teaches over 400,000 students.